[CyberTOPS] About my job...OT

[George Hughes]

 I love my job and where I work and I'm proud so I wanted to share this!
Been here since May 29, 2001.

George ;)
  Houston Northwest Medical Center celebrates 35th anniversary By FLORI
MEEKS CHRONICLE CORRESPONDENT Dec. 29, 2008, 10:11AM
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Work and family can be interchangeable at times for Spring resident Pam
Dube.

The pharmacy inventory control specialist has been working for Houston
Northwest Medical Center more than 30 years. She met her husband, colleague
Dale Dube, at the medical center, and she has developed close bonds with
many of the staff members there.

"It's family here, people you've worked with forever," the Spring resident
said.

Houston Northwest Medical Center has been spotlighting this sense of family
among staff members recently as the hospital at 710 FM 1960 W. celebrates
its 35th anniversary.

The medical center was established by a group of doctors on an 11-acre site
on FM 1960, west of Interstate 45. The building opened on Dec. 10, 1973,
with 16 physicians and 235 beds.

Today, the full-service medical facility is a Tenet property with
approximately 600 physicians and 1,500 employees. The center offers an
emergency room, a women's atrium, an outpatient surgery center, a heart
center and cardiac catheterization lab, a breast center, and a center for
diagnostic medicine, among other programs.

Pharmacy Director Gary Eilers has been with the hospital from the beginning.
He has witnessed the hospital's growth, as well as the bonding among its
staff.

"When I started here I was a new graduate," the northeast Spring resident
said. "I was excited about a new hospital."

Initially, Eilers worked in the hospital's retail pharmacy area. Shortly
after he started, he met the woman who would become his wife, Elaine. She
was a nurse's aid at the time, but in 1976 she became a registered nurse.
Since then, she has worked in orthopedic, surgical and floor nursing before
taking a position with the hospital's outpatient surgery center, where she
continues to work today.

Their children, Kristy, Scott and Steven, were born at Houston Northwest,
along with grandchild Benjamin. Their other grandchildren, Elliott and
Joshua, were born in Austin.

Eilers doesn't consider it unusual to meet a spouse on the job. "What's
unusual is we're both still working here after all of these years, and we
were both in the first wave of employees at the hospital."

There have been times Eilers has considered moving to other facilities.
"Every time I would begin to look for another opportunity, I found this
place offered the best opportunity for my career," he said. "There are
challenges in what I do, but it's also been very rewarding."

When Houston Northwest Medical Center opened, it was the only building in
sight, Eilers said. "The hospital was on a two-lane road with very few
lights on the way to Cypress," he recalled.

Eilers watched as houses, offices, restaurants and retail centers opened in
the surrounding area. "I've seen businesses come and go, and the hospital
has stayed strong," he said.

He has observed changes within the hospital, as well. "I've seen everything
done with manual systems to everything done with technological systems," he
said. "I've seen the pharmacy department become much more technical and the
staff go from 3 to 40 people."

The hospital earned a solid reputation in the community, Eilers said, and it
has maintained it. "The majority of people in this area depend on us for
their medical care, and they trust we'll do a good job with their care."

Eilers said he's especially proud of his department. Seven staff members
there have been there more than 30 years, and seven more have been there
more than 25 years. "When you look at the department and find the average
employee has been here 15 years, that's amazing," he said. "That gives us
very high quality people to do the job we need to do."

Dube had praise as well for the department. "We've all grown up together,"
she said. "We all know each other's families."

Dube said she met her husband, Dale, in the pharmacy department in 1978.
Today, she works days, and he works the night shift. "It's been a very good
place to work; it's been very good for our family."

It has meant a lot to the community, Dube said, to have the hospital as a
resource. "We offer a variety of services here. It's nice for this area we
can offer that."

For more information about Houston Northwest Medical Center, visit
www.hnmc.com.